twilightsagafandomcom-20200213-history
Talk:Life and Death to Twilight differences/@comment-68.202.187.249-20160208220706
I'm *really* much fonder of Edythe than Edward. Edward held damned near all the cards in his and Bella's relationship until Bella got pregnant. Up to and including having to be "forced" into changing Bella, because the Volturi got a look at her at the end of New Moon. Oh sure, it gets romantic and beautiful after that...but a perceptive reader *never* forgets that Edward only has 2 choices. 1) Turn Bella, or 2) Ignite the wrath of the Volturi and potentially bring them down on all the Cullens, by giving Aro a *bullet-proof* excuse to come and seize him and Alice, and see Bella dead in order to a) Break Edward and b) Compel Alice to act as Aro's "Seer" for eternity, by demonstrating what could *easily* happen to Jasper as well....Or Aro might (in fact, almost CERTAINLY would have) chosen to execute Jasper as well, to break Alice and leave her without hope and no reason to ever run away.) Edward is therefore "on the clock" to turn Bella. Edythe, on the other hand, simply had the choice wrenched away from her. Leaving her choices as a) Mercy-kill Beau to spare him the agony he was in, or b) Speed up the transformation to minimize his agony. I *adore* the fact that Archie was FAR more assertive in the ballet studio than Alice was. Archie wasn't going to play the "Let Beau maybe die" game, and seemed quite willing to fight Edythe over it. He played the "I've seen the future trump card. Beau changes or he dies. Period, stop. End sentence." But then, Archie had a far bigger stake in Beau's fate than Alice did. Alice was just Bella's sister-in-law...and while I'm not trying to minimize the love all the Cullens felt for each other, or their willingness to fight and die for each other. Alice was willing to let Edward make the call, at his own pace. Archie was having NONE of that. Essentially, "I've seen it. We end us best friends. I should thank Edythe for the "twofer"...falling in love with my best friend." I think the implication is pretty obvious. Archie would've had it over and done with if he'd arrived at the ballet studio on his own to find Beau bitten and past the "return threshhold." Edythe would've arrived to find a "going to be a Vampire" Beau on her hands. Which, obviously, is as it shoulda been. Edythe had already made that choice for Beau by not staying in Alaska. Well, that or eventually she was going to slip...with the way they were *constantly* playing with fire. (And, let's be real boys and girls. Beau's a 17yr old BOY. Does ANYONE think the "no sex" barrier was gonna hold up for the entire 60-80 YEARS of an Edythe and Beau-as-human "marriage"?) Of course not. Edward got away LUCKY in Breaking Dawn with Bella *bruised*...Do we all agree that Bella could've EASILY been cut if the hardwood headboard had SHATTERED instead of simply given way? Yanno...the way it would've on Edythe. Who'd have needed the same kinda hands-on-the-headboard grip to avoid rending poor Beau. Smaller hands = Higher Pounds-Per-Square-Inches (P.S.I) employed against the headboard...which would only shatter all the easier had it been something like formica, a softer wood. What would have happened then? Beau suddenly bleeding, in a VERY private location where the two of them were, in all probability, at the very least at least far enough away for the other Cullens not to hear what was going on. Based on Bella hearing music from a car going by on the highway and exceptional distance from the Cullens' house...The only way intervention by others happens at that point woulda been Archie predicting it...and unless the vision was "Edythe ends up killing Beau"...I think we can all agree Archie probably woulda kept his mouth shut, and left a panicked Edythe in the same "envenomate him or eat him" quandary. So, like the two of them said. All roads lead to where they ended up. Beau a Vampire. Beau called it outright "That was a really *horrible* idea. Me being taken for your father, your grandfather? I'd have probably ended up locked up!" So yeah. I really dig Edythe. As it played out, there was a ton more "balance" in hers and Beau's romantic relationship. And hey, a little bit of guilt that's already fading by the end of the book certainly won't kill her. She feels guilty for the wrong things, certainly...but the girl did made some crucial mistakes. Which makes Stephanie Meyer's point beautifully. Ie: "Bella wasn't a girl in distress. She was a human in distress." The entire "Humane Vampire Unwilling to Turn their Human Love Interest" trope is flawed, unworkable and infinitely tragic on the face of it. A Vampire essentially "withholding" immortality from their love interest is inherently, inhumanly cruel to the human on the face of it. I mean, how do you allow the one you love to *rot* in front of you when your *teeth* can amend that tragedy? Bravo to Stephanie for demonstrating that, and so compellingly :)